Lumber-drying truck



(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1. W. A. LEARY.

LUMBER DRYING TRUCK.

No. 476,801. Patented June 14, 1892.

(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.. W. A. LEARY. LUMBER DRYING TRUCK.

Patented June 14, 1892.

M I i a I, Ill/ll III/l [I]?! UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

IVILLIAM A. LEARY, OF NORFOLK, VIRGINIA.

LUMBER-DRYING TRUCK.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 476,801, dated June 14,1892. Application filed October 12, 1891. Serial No. 408,460. (Nomodel.)

To all whmn it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM A. LEARY, a citizen of the United States,residing at Norfolk, in the county of Norfolk and State of Virginia,have invented certain new and use ful Improvements in Devices forTransferring Lumber to DryingKilns; and I do declare the following to beafull, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as willenable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and usethe same, reference being bad to the accompanying drawings, and to theletters of reference marked thereon, which form a part of thisspecification.

This invention relates to appliances or means for moving lumber into andout of lumber-drying kilns; and it has for its object certainimprovements in the construction of that class of lumber trucks or carsin which it is designed to place the lumber upon edge instead of pilingthe same fiatwise and separating the boards by thin strips of wood, ashas heretofore been the common way of pil' ing lumber upon the trucks orcars used in the drying-kilns.

It has been found that lumber piled upon edge, with a sufficient spaceintervening between the boards to allow a free passage of the heated airfrom the bottom to the top of the pile, will dry much more evenly and inless time than when piled flatwise or hori zontally. In order toaccomplish this result, it has been found necessary to provide cars 01'trucks with frames having spaces, within which the boards could be slidfrom the end or side of the car. This process of loading the car hasproven to be, even under the most favorable circumstances, exceedinglytroublesome and inconvenient, and in some cases in which the boards havebeen warped or have been unevenly sawed or have projections orirregularities upon either the faces or edges it is diliicult and attimes impossible to use the racked cars heretofore in use. Theseobjections to the appliances heretofore in use I have had in View inproducing my present invention, and accordingly my aim has been toprovide for the convenient and easy loading and unloading of the trucksand to con struct a device which when not in use will occupy but littlespace.

To these ends and to such others as the in vention may pertain the sameconsists in the novel construction of the lumber-transporting device,which will be more fully hereinafter described, shown in theaccompanying drawings, and then specifically defined in the appendedclaims.

The invention is clearly illustrated in the accompanying drawings,which, with the letters of reference marked thereon, form a part of thisspecification, like letters of reference indicating like partsthroughout the several views, and in which drawings Figure 1 is a planview showing my invention as loaded with lumber, the same constitutingwhat I term a car. Fig. 2 is an end elevation of the same. Fig. 3 isadetail view in side elevation of a portion of the car. Fig. i is 'adetail perspective View showing one method of securing together theupper ends of the vertical lumber-supporting posts or uprights. Fig. 5is a like view of another mode of securing the upper ends of theuprights, and Fig. 6 is a detail view in section showing the manner ofsupporting the said uprights or posts at their lower ends.

Reference now being had to the details of the drawings by letter,Adesignates a timber which forms the sill of the truck, and is mountedupon two grooved wheels to a, journaled therein near its opposite ends.Said wheels are adapted to run upon a suitable track leading into thedrying-chamber of a drying-kiln. Secured to the upper face of said beamA is a second timber B. Passing vertically through the timber B is aseries of holes I), said holes being provided in a continuous seriesextending the entire length of the timber, and within each of the holesis placed the lower end 'of a tubular upright or post C. These uprightsare arranged at such distances apart as will correspond with thethickness of the boards to be dried, and are preferably from six toeight feet in height.

To the lower face of the timber B is secured a metal strip D, which uponits upper face is provided with a series of stub posts or pins d, thenumber and relative arrangement of which posts correspond with the holesin the timber. These stub-posts are of slightly less diameter than thediameter of the holes I), which they enter, and fitted over the saidposts the tubular uprights are provided with a secure position withinthe holes I).

The upper face of the timber B is provided with a wearing-plate E ofboiler-plate iron, which has a series of openings coinciding with thoseof the beam for the passage of the uprights. Before the loading of thelumber,

, which Will be presently described, the upper ends of the uprights arenot connected together, so that a free and unimpeded space is leftbetween the uprights, thus permitting the boards to be dropped from theupper ends of the uprights between the same; but after the lumber hasbeen loaded I attach together the upper ends of the uprights for theirmutual support and to hold the load securely together. My preferredmethod of doing this is by means of a device shown in Fig. &, whichconsists of a chain composed of a circular link F for each post, adaptedto slip over the same, having upon opposite sides loop-extensionsf,which by links f are connected to the extensions f ofthe next adjacentlink F. Another manner of connectin and mutually supporting the uprightsis oy means of a bar G, (shown at the top of Fig. 1 and in detail inFig. 5 of the drawings,) of a length adapted to extend across the entireseries of uprights and having upon its under side studs or projectionsg, adapted to enter the upper ends of the hollow uprights. Y

The manner of loading lumber for transportation to the kiln-chamber isas follows: Platforms are erected upon either side of the tracks leadinginto the kiln. Upon each of the tracks and in a line parallel with eachother are arranged the trucks A, the number of trucks employedcorresponding with the number of tracks. The uprights are placed inposition upon the trucks, as described,and when the several trucks arethus in position and in readiness for receiving the boards the spacesbetween the uprights upon the several trucks will be in alignment. Theboards are dropped into the spaces between the uprights by the menengaged in loading the car. The platforms upon the sides of the tracksshould be of such a height as to permitthe operators to simply drop theboards into the spaces between the uprights, thus avoiding the extralabor requiied in lifting theboards. Each of the spaces is thus filledand the tops of the uprights are then secured, as described,either withthe chain or some equivalent form of fastening, and the lumber is inreadiness for moving into the kiln. It will be seen that by thearrangement which I have described the lumber will be transferred to thekiln so arranged as to permit the free circulation of the heat throughthe entire mass of boards, the passages between the boards beingcontinuous from top to bottom of the pile, and the heat will have directaccess to the faces of the boards. In unloading the car the severaluprights may each in turn be removed, thus avoiding the necessity oflifting the boards over the uprights.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim to be new, and desireto secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In alumber-transportingdevice, the combination, with a movablesupport, of a series of uprights or posts suitably spaced and adapted tohave lumber let down between them, and means, substantially asdescribed, for attaching together the upper ends of the posts,substantially as and for the purpose described.

2. In a lu tuber-transporting device, the combination, with a movablesupport having a series of openings, of a series of hollow posts oruprights fitted in said openings and a stud upon the supportfor each ofthe uprights and adapted to enter the lower end of the same,substantiallyas and for the purpose described.

3. The combination, with a lumber-transporting device, of a movablesupport having a series of openings, a series of tubular uprights orposts, one being contained in each of the openings, and a plate or barupon the under side of the support having a stud or projection for eachopening and entering the same and the end of the tube therein, sub- Istan tiall y as described.

